You've found yourself in a botted playlist. Great! (not great).
We understand the frustration and the potential harm it can do to your artist profile. We're here to guide you, step by step, out of that artificial echo chamber and back to focusing on genuine marketing strategies.
Some common repeat offenders are WAVR.AI, Varsity Playlists, ThePlaylistBros, CraftPlaylists, PlaylistGoats, and TopShelf Playlists, to name a few.
In case you don't understand the risks (they're really bad), take a look at this article: The Risks Of Botted Playlists
Why did I get added to a botted playlist?
Most of the time it's the result of a paid playlist campaign gone wrong, but we've also seen scammers adding artists without their knowledge in an attempt to get their attention.
Don't worry. If you act quickly, there are usually no issues.
Step 1: Report The Playlist
Spotify for Artists Support is the place to go for this one.
You want to report the playlist because Spotify will put a note down on your account indicating this isn't your doing.
This should mitigate most of the risk associated with being placed in a botted playlist.
How:
Start a chat with Spotify for Artists Support
Say you've been added to a botted playlist and need to report it/get removed from the playlist.
They'll ask you for the playlist. Link it to them.
Clarify that this won't affect your account.
Boom. You're in the clear!
Step 2: Ask The Curator To Remove You
You want to be in this playlist for as little as possible, and we don't have time to wait for Spotify to escalate internally.
Even though you should be clear of any risk of being removed from Spotify, these botted plays can still affect your algorithm support.
How:
Find the curator's contact info on artist.tools or contact the place where you purchased the placement.
Email them respectfully. It's critical to be respectful. You don't want to aggravate these people. Something like: Hey NAME, could you remove my song SONG_NAME from this playlist? Song: my-song-link Playlist: bad-playlist-link Best, Aaron
Now, unfortunately, all you can do is wait for their response, however, usually, this gets the job done. 👍
Words Of Advice
We suggest avoiding any marketing service that guarantees playlist placements for money. If they accept everyone who pays, they're probably botting, because this isn't a sustainable practice for an authentic playlist curator.
Submission sites such as SubmitLink or SubmitHub are solid choices for running playlist campaigns because they don't guarantee placements. They use bot detection tools like artist.tools to guarantee you aren't submitting to botted playlists.
It's also a smart practice to run any playlists you get placed on or any playlists you intend on submitting to, through a Spotify Bot Checker.